An epic 90-page poem written as a therapeutic process, alongside a series of "death masks", depicted throughout the book as encounters along the Way through the Underworld. As the author recalls of her writing process, "Healing imagery, poetic imagery, information about the goddess Inanna, hypnotic recall and therapeutically-guided imagery: all of this intense psychological work seemed to open doors deep inside the self. Inside these doors, I found my life history to be stored. Much of it was expressed in kinesthetic knowing and in imagistic knowing."
Created out of her personal experience and reflective of her expertise as a scholar in the areas of trauma and religion, she offers both an artistic work and her own Jungian analysis of the process of creative healing she endured. Ruth Krall also uses short phrases in Spanish throughout to express aspects of the experience. A reference section and prosaic reflections allow the reader to find resources for journeys through personal crisis.
The epic journey of Inanna begins from the Homeland and enters the "Dark Woods" in which Inanna passes through Seven Gates. The arrival back to the Homeland through the transformation created by chaos, brings her into a new state of being as the Queen of Heaven and Earth.
